6 Marketing Strategies That Will Never Go Out of Style
In the cutthroat competitive market today, marketing is one of the most effective recourses available to businesses to stand out and succeed. However, much like fashion, marketing trends change every day, leaving marketers confused.
If you don’t have the budget to adopt every new fad that comes along, don’t worry. You can remain competitive by including a few old but evergreen marketing tactics in your marketing plan.
They are:
1. Build a Strong Brand
Many people believe that a brand is just the name and logo of a company, but in reality, it signifies much more. A brand is the personality of your company; it’s an idea that people can get behind and an identity that people can relate with. Building a strong brand elevates your business from being a faceless entity in a sea of homogenous companies. Strong branding makes your company recognizable and memorable.
So how do you build a strong build?
- Know your target market and position your brand correctly: who is your brand for? Consider the multidimensional personality of your audience and then build a brand that will appeal to them.
- Value proposition: what unique value are you giving your consumers that they can’t get from your competition?
- Determine the personality of your brand and the language you will use to connect with your audience.
- Deliver the benefits that your consumer really desires
- Be consistent and stay relevant
Still not convinced? Here are a few advantages of strong branding:
- Strong brands are more recognizable – think Apple, KFC, Coca Cola, and Nike.
- Strong brands can charge premium prices
- Strong brands attract talented employees
- Strong brands are more likely to survive in an economic recession
2. Find Your People
Apple won’t be successful if it marketed to boomers living in rural areas, and Mercedes Benz would fail horribly if it started marketing its high-end cars to carpool moms. Identifying your target market is one of the most important components of a marketing strategy, and that is why it won’t ever go out of style!
To be successful, you need to find your consumer. Who is most likely to purchase what you are selling? Who is your ideal consumer? Develop multidimensional buyer personas based on demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioral, sociocultural, and other related considerations.
The benefits? Take a look:
- High brand value
- Higher sales volume
- Ability to customize marketing strategies to suit consumer preferences
- Increased probability of growth and expansion
Market segmentation and targeting are doubly important for small businesses. By targeting the right niche, small businesses use their resources more efficiently and effectively. A Carpet Cleaning Kent business told us that they decreased their cost of acquiring a customer significantly once they started targeting. In addition, their sales and consumer engagement increased as the people interested in hiring a professional cleaner became aware of the business.
3. Use Word of Mouth Marketing
When I was doing my bachelor’s in Business Administration in 2008, WOM or Word of Mouth Marketing was the most exciting marketing technique. Back then, marketers hailed WOM the holy grail of marketing strategy, but later many other innovative strategies overshadowed it.
I believe that WOM is still applicable today – it is a marketing technique that will never go out of style but may reappear in different forms. Traditionally, WOM meant providing such an incredible experience that consumers would be compelled to recommend your brand to their friends and family of their own natural volition.
Modern WOM takes this concept one step further – instead of relying on organic recommendations, marketers also make targeted efforts to influence consumer referrals. This includes enhancing the consumer experience, making it easy to leave feedback online, ensuring omnichannel feedback, and more.
In today’s hyperconnected world, WOM is more important than ever. One Facebook post from your friend, highlighting the benefits of a show brand, can compel you to go out and buy shoes from that brand. Similarly, one Insta photo of a food platter or a 5-star review on yelp can convince you to avail that service as well.
4. Building Relationships
Businesses need to stop selling and start building relationships because sales are short-term, but relationships drive long-term value. The marketing strategy of building a relationship with your consumer to gain their loyalty and patronage is an old technique that will always remain golden.
Newmarket research tells us that the relationship between a consumer and a business is dyadic – they both are enjoined in mutual value creation. Additionally, we all know the age-old statistic that 80% of consumer profits are generated by 20% of its loyal customers. Surprisingly, it holds even today.
So, focus on building relationships to make a loyal customer. How to do that?
- Listen to your consumer and deliver what they need
- Provide an excellent customer experience
- Provide value to your consumer
- Be empathic – show your consumers that you care about more than just money.
5. Enhance Customer Experience
Customer experience is another marketing strategy that will always pay off. Customer experience or CX embodies a customer’s perception of your brand as they come into contact with your brand at any touchpoints. It includes the ease of finding a product on your website, the lack of lag time in loading images on your mobile app, and the helpfulness of your sales representative in the store.
When a customer opens your app, walks in your store, or uses your product, they have certain expectations of how that interaction will go. If that interaction goes well, you can expect the customer to come back and buy more. On the other hand, if it doesn’t go as expected, you can rest assured that the consumer will not only stop buying from your brand, they will give online reviews to discourage others as well.
Therefore, invest in creating smooth and personalized customer experiences to keep your customers happy at any time of any day.
6. Use Consumer Reviews
The internet and social media have revolutionized our shopping behavior. Our mom and dad used to go to the shop and buy the best product from 10 options. On the other hand, we deep dive into the internet before making any purchase decisions.
Do I need a phone? Sure, let’s check for price and feature comparison of different mobile brands online. Let’s also see what consumers are saying about this particular model I am eyeing. 90% of reviews are saying that the camera doesn’t work? Whew, thank God I checked the reviews, I am not buying this phone!
This is how our shopping process goes for almost everything, from food to electronics, and from grocery to real estate. Therefore, it’s essential to invest in generating positive reviews from your consumers. Here are a few ways to get them:
- Reward consumers with discounts and freebies for leaving a review.
- Ask the customer for feedback when they have completed a transaction.
- Let your consumer know how long it will take them to leave a review beforehand. Consumers are more likely to write a review if its under 5 mins.
- Respond to the reviews you get – whether negative or positive.